For the cuts, have you considered animal claw marks prior to petrifaction (if the stone turns out to be that).

Now you'll need a bit of imagination with this link, its the best I could find to demonstrate the point, lol. The first Chihuahua is a mouse (or something) hiding in the split trunk, the second Chihuahua (white one) is a hunter chasing it (what was around these parts 20m years ago: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ibv07AMK09A